Factory shift takes a twist

Steve Barton

Another Sunday night shift. The smell of bread baking. The industrial thump, thump, thump of the machines that never stop.

The ovens are cranked up to full blast, the factory is humming, and everyone wants to be somewhere else.

But this shift is going to be different. Because when a crisis hits the factory, the men have more to lose than just their wages...

The play, which was writer Richard Bean’s first to be professionally produced on stage, is based on the year he spent working in a mass production bread plant as a teenager, with each character inspired by someone he worked alongside.

Matthew Kelly plays Nellie. His theatre credits include Twelfth Night (Liverpool Everyman), The History Boys (Sheffield Crucible), Educating Rita (Menier Chocolate Factory and Edinburgh Festival) and Of Mice and Men (Birmingham Repertory Theatre and West End – Olivier Award for Best Actor).

For television, his work includes Cold Blood, Benidorm, My Family at War and Stars in their Eyes.